


Thief in the Night

by Tel



Category: Honor Harrington Series - David Weber, Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-19
Updated: 2010-02-19
Packaged: 2017-10-19 01:11:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/195232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tel/pseuds/Tel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Short Victorious Vor interstitial fragment. Miles prepares to leave Grayson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thief in the Night

The man in the doorway considered Denis with sharp, cold, eyes. He was smiling, but his expression wasn't friendly in the slightest. The guard who had brought him his last meal had radiated murderous fury. Naismith's suppressed energy was different, but somehow more alarming.

"Can I help you?" Denis asked. The quarters he was confined to on Grayson were merely functional by human standards, but had a tiny loft overhead that was warm and cozily decorated. Unlike the Manticoran treecats, Mao was deeply uncomfortable on the ground and preferred to stay as high up as possible.

"It's your friend Shannon," Naismith said after a brief silence. Denis Jourdain's stomach tightened in sudden foreboding. The diminutive mercenary hopped up on a bench, crossed one ankle over the other, and reached in his pocket for a holocube. His treecat weaved past him and sat, directing a ferocious stare at the loft. It took a moment for Denis's large, scarred bondmate to pop his head over the side, and when he did he seemed taken aback at Samantha's clear anger at him.

"Watch," Naismith said. The cube sprang to life. Denis recognized Citizen Committeewoman Ransom, of course, but he was shocked to see Commodore Harrington. The sickness in his stomach grew as he saw things explode into violence, saw Shannon step in to protect Harrington's half-unconscious treecat. The broadcast was heavily edited to highlight the 'treacherous ferocity' of the Manticoran creature, but Denis knew Foraker and found it easy to interpolate. She'd have been safer trapped on this side of the war lines with him and Caslet after all.

And Harrington... Harrington was going to die. He wasn't sure what to think about that.

"This place, Hades," Naismith said. "What do you know about it?" Aware he was being watched carefully, Denis betrayed nothing in his expression.

Samantha's mouth parted to show needle fangs as the silence grew. With a solid thump, Mao jumped to the floor. His head tilted at the holocube, and he wheeled to stare at Denis in firm disapproval. Naismith's treecat matched the stare, her own tail lashing.

Denis held out another minute under Mao's disapproving gaze before cracking. "That is simply not playing fair,” he complained, looking away.

“It's awful, isn't it!” Naismith agreed cheerily. “The Steadholder pulls it on me all the time.”

"I was there, once, when I worked for InSec," Denis said in a flat tone.

"Best case scenario, that's where your young lady is heading," his interrogator observed.

"She is not..." Denis's eyes narrowed. "I'm not interested in talking about this, 'Admiral'."

"Well, we'll chat later, perhaps." Naismith seemed unfazed. "Under the circumstances, the Harrington Armsmen have asked for and received permission to transfer you to the Steadholder's estate for your own protection until the current crisis dies down."

"For my own protection," Denis repeated dryly. "Aren't the Manticorans supposed to be my keepers?" He'd faced a great deal of subtle and unsubtle pressure to defect since Mao adopted him, and he knew he hadn't been transferred to Grayson at the same time Commodore Harrington was by accident. She and Nimitz had been frequent visitors, and he'd also been approached by the traitor Yu.

“The planet will assume the Harrington Armsmen are working you over, and piously look the other way. The military establishment doesn't have to make tough decisions on you and Mao in the context of what the Peeps are doing to their prisoners. Samantha gets someone to talk to. And I get to make sure that you and Mao don't get split up by some vengeful bureaucrat. Works for everyone.” Naismith's faint smile widened. “I think you're currently the only serving StateSec officer on the planet. Grayson wants your nads in a jar."

Mao stalked closer to Denis, switching his baleful stare to Naismith. “Split up?” Denis asked carefully, mirroring his bondmate's concern.

“Part of the reason your treatment here is so unique is that the Alliance has an interest in making sure any prisoners with treecats are given accommodation by your side. But...” Naismith shrugged with one shoulder. Denis straightened, alarmed, and Mao's tail flattened. “I don't think they'd go quite as far as Ms. Ransom did, but I wouldn't rule out them putting Mao in the equivalent of treecat solitary. They're still not happy about what he pulled on Sphinx.”

Denis made a 'well, what can you do' gesture. Naismith smirked back. "We'll have your effects and Mao's transported later," he said. "Come along."

The transfer took place uneventfully. Naismith wore loose civilian attire, but a pair of guards in the green uniform of Harrington Steading accompanied them, unfamiliar weapons drawn. One calmly maintained a bead on his treecat, but at least Mao was allowed to walk free to the aircar. Inside, Mao pressed his nose to the window, looking out and down in fascination. Naismith's Samantha bleeked amusement at him, and Denis smiled inwardly too. Poor fellow didn't get out much, and it showed.

His escorts were so relaxed about the situation that it took Denis nearly a minute after they landed to realize that he was being led to another strange beetlelike craft instead of the Harrington estate. The landing pad was deserted except for uniformed armsmen. Mao disappeared inside after Samantha, but Denis stopped at the hatch, staring down suspiciously at Naismith. "Is this a jailbreak?" he asked, finally daring to put suspicion into words.

"No, no, no," the mercenary replied with a fierce and alarming grin. "This is a _kidnapping_."

***

 **NO KITTENS ALLOWED BY ORDER OF COMMANDING OFFICER**

Miles barely kept from cracking up as he swung out into the shuttle hatch corridor and came face to face with the small placard on the far wall, chest-high to anyone but him. His androgynous captain saluted with a slightly stormy expression on its face. From his perspective, the whole fuss with Bel's hamster on the trip here had been absolutely hilarious. They'd even resuscitated the elderly critter after it'd died of heart failure, so no harm done, right? But Bel was clearly still pissed about it, in its suave but not really understated way.

"Hi, Bel," he said, returning the salute. Bel looked suspiciously behind him for treecats. Its eyes narrowed as it spotted Mao, who was clinging desperately to Jourdain's shoulder and looking airsick.

Jourdain looked little better. "Was that a compensator failure?" he asked whitely.

"It's a military shuttle, not a pleasure boat," Miles said with a grin.

"I thought you were leaving him groundside," Bel said, frowning at Denis and his companion.

A shrug. "Plans change."

"What plans?" Jourdain asked.

"Yeah, and who's watching the little monsters then? I thought that was the whole point of this sidetrip." The captain leaned over to stare through the hatch into the recesses of the shuttle, checking once more for unwelcome furry guests. Straightening, it tilted its head at Miles and started off down the short corridor. Taura and the other Dendarii peeled off to settle Jourdain and Mao in their quarters, and Miles directed Samantha to follow to reassure the spooked treecat.

"I dumped them on MacGuinness," Miles said. "He thinks I'm coming back tonight."

"That was mean of you."

"It was. Well, Sam told them to behave. You have your clearances?"

"Lied like a sailor, yep. They still think you're downside, but that won't last. You sure about this, Miles? Backup might be useful."

"No time." He bared his teeth. "And screw White Haven, anyway. If he hadn't been perving on his junior officers in the first place..."

"Yeah, like you've never done that," Bel said sotto voce, as they stepped into Nav and Com. Miles shook his head, mentally centering himself. He'd been stuck groundside too long.

"Jump in thirty-six minutes," Green Squad's pilot said from her seat, already hooked in.

"Thanks, Carmen." Miles said. The jumps would come too fast for Padget to handle them all. Without a second pilot this all would truly be impossible, instead of... hell, he didn't know. He was going in blind.


End file.
